Reality Panic

Sadly, we’re at the point, as an industry, where we have to place “safe bets”. Whatever happened to the wild and crazy days of innovation and experimentation?***

Ironically enough, two different articles covering the exact same issue of licenses dominating the game industry came out last week. One was at the Hollywood Reporter and the other at the New York Times. Both end with quotes by publisher reps on taking a balanced approach… If only…

This is such a huge topic/issue, nice to see the coverage. A quote from the NYTime piece nails one of the core problems:

“…making a game based on a prominent book or movie is essentially a safer bet: the title probably won’t become a blockbuster, but it is also less likely to fail outright.”

That is, a safe bet. I was quoted in the Hollywood piece about a lack of confidence on the part of publishers, with many just trying to ensure they don’t screw up badly enough to lose their job. Certainly a gross oversimplification of the challenges in publishing games, but not far from the truth.

There is such a lack of understanding of what will make a great game that essentially every game becomes a gamble, with the odds further stacked against new IP…

Further to the point, Scott Miller comments that turning to movies for content is a folly as movies are simply not well suited to the interactivity of games. And, this was spawned from the crazy notion that Warner Brothers is going to start penalizing publishers for poor quality games.

Oh my, I feel safe in betting that that will never fly!

*** (It’s cooped up in a barn once a year!)

Oddly enough, government may be an agent of salvation for the games industry. I say odd because so much gov effort goes into banning/censorship. While this is sadly still true, somewhere on the other end of the building, gov folks are looking at ways to support and build their local industries.

You just need to look at Victoria’s “Game Plan” initatiatives, or the efforts made in the UK to get a sense the good work being done. Similar initiatives and support programs abound in places like Montreal, Korea, Brisbane, France, Sweden, etc.

While this is all great and commendable, I doubt it will actually help with the overall criticism over the lack of innovation and sequelitis in the industry. The majority of these support programs simply feed into the existing mainstream industry, helping developers get a publishing deal, provide access to expensive dev kits or set up missions to visit conferences in California.

I had several meetings with various gov reps from around the world during my trip to E3. I advised most of them to move away from the above models, or to at least look at an alternative/additional approach.

I suggested that gov support programs (or at least the ones coming from the more culturally oriented gov arms) should being going into supporting games that would not otherwise be made, or accepted by the mainstream games industry. Think more experimental stuff, more culturally diverse content, think non-mainstream, non-licensed content.

This should be the stuff that’s happening on the fringe of the industry; the underground of the mainstream. This should be the stuff that’s on the margins that helps to refresh the center in one big ecosystem.

Hypothetically speaking, where would you put down your funding/supporting resources and initiatives? I’d fund an Indie Game Jam style lab as a starting point!

I’m still recovering from my trip to E3. So, this summary will not be long. Besides, this E3 was a lot like the last one: lots of sequels, lots of licenses, low on innovation, high on noise.

A few 10th anniversary twists (eg, MIT’s Education Arcade, the classic games expo and the “Into the Pixel” art show) kept things fresh overall. Sadly, I can’t say I remember much of the games. I guess I’ll be doing some catch up at E3insider.com.

The IGDA’s members-only party was good fun, with 400 members showing up for the festivities (see pics below). I do believe this was the first ever developer specific event/party held in E3’s history…

Anyway, the following pics should tell the rest of my E3 story:

I am spent! I’ve been in LA all week to contend with the game industry colossal E3. I lost.

My head is spinning from the sensory overload (not to mention the late, late night at the Sony party). My feet are blistered from all the walking. My back is aching, etc. I need a better pre-events training program!

A worthwhile and fun trip on the whole, but I can’t stop to wonder how “broken” the event actually is…

I can’t say I really remember much of the games. It is all a wash. I seem to recall a cool game at the Activision booth where you have to drive over zombies. Hmm, what else? Lots of sequels! Way too many licenses. Lots of noise. Lots of flash. Lots of flesh (ya, the amount of boothbabes seemed pretty high this year (much to the chagrin of some developers)). Lots of distractions.

I really have a hard time remembering/digesting anything meaningful from the cacophony. Isn’t E3 supposed to be all about the games???

I think this will be my seventh E3. Each year I say I’ll never go back, and yet each year I can’t wait to arrive. Call it a love/hate relationship.

This is indeed the 10th anniversary of E3 and, as noted by ESA big boss Doug Lowenstein, they’ve got a few tricks up their sleeve. For one, I am looking forward to the “Into the Pixel” art exhibit. Sounds fresh and very non-E3-like. Also, it is fantastic that E3 is hosting the “Education Arcade” with MIT. This is a follow-on event from the Serious Games Summit held recently at GDC. The speaker list is impressive - both on the academic and pro fronts.

I’ll be conducting a panel on game design rules during the conference program. With Tim Willits (Doom3), Jordan Mechner (Prince of Persia), Grant Collier (Call of Duty) and John Schapert (EA), it should be informative.

Lastly, I am particularly looking forward to the IGDA’s first members-only party. It is fun to see who’s coming (some impressive names on there). Best of all, I get to control the volume of the music. For the first time at an industry party, developers will actually be able to talk to each other!!!

Joy :)

Despite EA’s huge sales and obvious dominance of the global game industry, I haven’t bought or played an EA game in the longest time (the last one being the excellent SXX Tricky). Rather, I can’t seem to stop playing games from Ubisoft…

I just finished Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Very enjoyable, very challenging levels. I had previously finished Splinter Cell (the first one). Next up, I was thinking of getting either the next Splinter Cell, or Beyond Good & Evil (which is supposed to be something truly different).

But, I think I am going to kick my Ubi habit and pick up Deus Ex: Invisible War. Warren and Harvey (and much of the Ion crew) are good friends of mine and I am ashamed since I never played the first DX ;)

So, who’s buying/playing all those EA games?